Unless Someone Drags Me
by RedheadedMarina
Summary: Faction transfers Christina and Will both notice Tris, a skinny transfer from Abnegnation who looks like she won't make it through one day as a Dauntless initiate. But when Tris proves stronger than they realize, Christina and Will realize what they've really been looking for. A gift for our little infinity as part of the RLt Holiday Fic Exchange.


**A/N: A gift story for our little infinity, magnificent author in her own right. She requested a Will/Christina pairing from "Divergent" and I jumped at the chance to write these two characters. I hope you enjoy it!**

"I just can't do it unless someone drags me", I said to Tris that day. Hard to believe I didn't even know her name then. She clamped her hand over mine and we jumped together.

She looked like the typical Stiff: washed out, someone who never had an original thought in their life, because why would you think a thought for YOURSELF (selfish!) when you could just walk quietly and give people your lunch money and apologize constantly while never smiling? There's being nice because you're nice, and then there's lying down and telling people to please walk all over you because it just feels so freakin' good.

Her face looked so blank. She must be terrified, I thought. She'll get pushed to the back and miss the jump. I had this crazy vision of her riding the train around and around until she starved, because it would be just too darn selfish to do anything else.

So, for the first time, I went against my faction - _my old faction _- and lied to someone. "I just can't do it, unless someone drags me." That would work. She'd jump if she thought it was helping someone else. So we jumped together, her dragging me along.

In Candor, the teachers and parents would always say: "If you say it, it's the truth." They meant that you shouldn't let anything that wasn't honest come out of your mouth, ever. But, it also meant that if you said something and believed it, a lot of times you could find a way to make it happen. I kept thinking of that phrase, over and over, all through the first few days of Dauntless initiation.

Because it was just the start of her dragging me everywhere.

**xxx**

I saw her first.

Dark hair, dark eyes, and the Candor black and white didn't make her look like she was getting over the flu. She looked warm and alive and so beautiful. You wouldn't want to be chosen to debate with her. It's funny, people would assume that Candor did all the debating, but really it was us - it was Erudite. Because we - _they_ seek knowledge, and sometimes knowledge means more than one thing.

But she was seeking something else now. And I'd found her. I didn't realize it in that moment, of course. I was too scared at what I had done, what my parents were thinking, about all my friends I'd probably never see again. And then there wasn't any time for thinking, because we were _running_ and _jumping on a train _and going to my - our new home, and _what had I done_?

So much jumping.

**xxx**

Tris had never seen a hamburger. She didn't know how to dress. I thought if I helped her then Will would notice me, more than just another initiate in our group.

He noticed Tris.

Joked with her about being frigid, and how she could change that. Came to check on _her_ after Peter beat her half to death, while he just handed me an icepack and a wink. Held _her_ back from the fight with Peter in the dorm, because he didn't want _her_ to get in trouble.

I didn't want to be Tris, no way at all. I just wanted his eyes to follow me, his instincts to tell him to protect me, even though I didn't need it, I couldn't need it in a place like this. But I wanted it. Badly.

**xxx**

Everything changed after Al.

I realized Eric was a liar.

And Tris didn't need me.

And Will pulled me close to him, and I felt how we fit together, how his warmth seeped through my clothes and straight to my heart, and that maybe, Will could see me as someone who could take his punches and his protection, and that liking one didn't mean I was scared of the other.

But, like so many other things, it ended up being Tris who dragged us the rest of the way.

**xxx**

Part of me felt like I should follow Tris, make sure she was okay, but...I didn't.

"Where do you think she went?" Christina asked me, her dark eyes full of concern. Would she ever look that way about me?

"It's her responsibility now," I replied. "Come on, let's get some lunch."

Lunch was like any other Dauntless meal, people yelling, laughing, even some play fighting. It was loud and constant and never ending. In Erudite, meals were a time of quieter discussion, when you might put forward a theory or a question that you'd been thinking about, but hadn't researched yet. Your friends would offer their opinions and suggestions, but no one yelled. If you brought forward that same theory later, without researching it, they'd take you apart in class or the debate hall, but not at a meal. That's when things got more...relaxed.

There was no real _rest_ here in Dauntless, I realized. Maybe that was the price for being brave, not just for yourself but for every other faction. They rest, so you don't.

"You think she's okay?" Christina asked, picking at the remains of her lunch. She always worried about Tris. She was a good friend.

"I think she's okay, just wanted some time to herself."

"Yeah." Christina thought for a second. "You know, you never really get that here. People are always around. Even when nothing is going on, stuff is going on, you know?"

"Yeah," I agreed. Then, something made me stand up.

Christina arched an eyebrow at me. "What's up?"

"I want some time to myself," I said. "Are you coming?"

**xxx**

To be honest, I thought we might find Tris out in the train yard, but I was really glad when we didn't. Will was right, it was her responsibility, and it felt good to _not_ worry about her for a change. To just talk, and listen.

When I looked at Will, I felt like I was enough, that I didn't have to try and be anything else. We were talking about silly things, I think about foods we hated, or something, and I realized that my mind wasn't searching for the most honest word, or the toughest sounding phrase. It was just me, and Will. And I actually felt it, like bubbles in my stomach, and it seemed like my entire body was trying to move closer to Will's even though I was standing still, and then I knew something was going to happen but I had no idea what, and I wanted it really badly but didn't know what to say, and then his lips were on mine...

Oh.

They were soft. Warm. Strong. I had seen plenty of people kiss but it didn't look anything like how it felt. I didn't realize I'd be able to taste the chocolate frosting from his cake at lunch. And then the tip of his tongue traced my upper lip, and I felt a rush of fear like we were in a simulation but then it was gone and the idea of something so intimate, happening to me right now, sent a flush of heat out to every inch of me, like I was going to boil right out of my skin.

Then, his lips were gone, but his chest was right there, and it seemed perfectly normal for me to rest my head in the space under his chin. I could hear his heartbeat. Oh, anyone from Candor would humiliate me for that phrase, say it was an obvious fact and I was trying to be duplicitous and hide my honest feelings. Okay. In that moment, I felt like I _was_ his heartbeat, and he was mine.

And then he asked: "So, did everyone really laugh when your dog stole that chicken? Or were you just saying that? 'Cause I'd be mad, I think." And we were talking again like nothing had happened, but that was okay, because we both knew it had.

Something stronger than faction, stronger than blood. Candor would want me to name it. But, being Dauntless meant I could feel it. It was beautiful.


End file.
